poetry (GanS 3)

fig.1 Fancy fontwork is symptomatic of 'Poetry'.

A special form of language used to convey profound thoughts—those which mere prose could ne'er hope to delineate. The present author's Gerva an Scrynkyer contains many outstanding specimens of the species (and one lives in humble hope of the Arghdrewyth's summons to his sacred kelly-wyk!).

Some of the characteristic symptoms of a 'poem':
• lines contain a matching —or contrasting— number of syllables: dum-ti dum-ti diddle-ee…

• the terminal syllables on successive lines cunningly form a regular pattern of sound: –ooh –aah –ooh –aah,

• the pages display more than the normal quota both of unused paper and of fancy fonts (as shown above in fig.1).

• the chosen vocabulary contains more than the normal quota of words that require the help of your dictionary/thesaurus to decipher, as the englyn above has clearly demonstrated.

• the words that don't need the dictionary don't mean what you think they ought to. This is known as 'symbolism' or 'allusion'. For example, in the verse above, the word 'font' superficially refers to a style of lettering, while the underlying allusive leit motif evokes the fount of bardic éclaircissement from which the poet has quaffed a deep, inspirational draught.

• the bard knows more fancy words to do with poetry than you do. If you can score more than 3/4 on the following, yer in with a shout at this malarkey yerself:
Q.(1) What is the cure for acute prosopopoeia?
Q.(2) Do the Cornish sit on an Esethvos Kernow?
Q.(3) Does enjambement feature in ballet dancing or the Kama Sutra?
Q.(4) Is Pyrrhic foot treatable with over-the-counter medication?

However, these guidelines are only true for yer workaday, run-of-the-mill poetry; Advanced Poetry doesn't necessarily do any of the above, and can only be reliably identified by asking an Expert, who will tell you whether it's poetry, or whether it's dreck. Furthermore, the popularity of a poem is a mark of its quality: if lots of people read it, then it's mere doggerel, and beneath contempt. The fewer folk read it, the better it is --which leads us to the startling conclusion that the Best Poetry is read by no-one at all.